23:53 - Sunny PagliaccioNote to self: Do NOT open links on max volume in the middle of a quiet night. Otherwise, not bad. :D

23:52 - ApothecaryFast food workers planning a strike in support of $15/hour wages next month. I'm a tutor in a reading lab at a college and I don't even make that much, a bit of an overestimation of one's importance, don'tcha think?

01. God Or God?02. In The Mist... Part I03. The World And The Dream04. It Is Night05. In The Mist... Part II06. In The Mist... Part III07. Chasing The Moral's Luxury08. Falseness And Struggle09. Your Love

It Is Great

Time for a retro review here on Metal Storm. The lucky band today is Valinor from Poland, and the release is the 2001 debut album entitled "It Is Night". For all of you thinking that Valinor is another stupid Tolkien band, think again, although the band name comes from Tolkien's mythology, the band lyrics and atmosphere doesn't try to evoke Middle Earth's fantastic tales.

We got here a Symphonic Black Metal combo, although I don't know if this is truly Black Metal, and if they're, they surely lean towards the softer, melodic side of it.
Valinor uses both clean vocals and shrieked ones, in addition they use grandiloquent choirs, in the purest form of Viking Metal. Musically the band relies on Black Metal riffing and even some times some classic Heavy Metal can be spotted, the use of keyboards is a prime element in their music, since is always present.

The best asset of the band is the vocals, both harsh and clean are well crafted, and the choirs also fit the music very well. Although the singer doesn't have a perfect English pronunciation, who does?

Almost every song is appealing, from the opener "…God Or God?" to the title song "It Is Night". Each track has lots of hooks that will remain in your head for ages, the melodic leads in addition of the keyboards creates great atmosphere, add catchy drumming patterns and you have yourself a great listen.

At times the band reminded me to Solefald and Vintersong, that being a very good thing.
I wonder if these guys have planned releasing anything soon, because I'm eager to hear the evolution of the band over the years. While this album cannot be considered a classic, it is a worthy effort from a virtually unknown band, try to catch this if you can find it.